Hawaii Part II

It’s been well over a month now and I think that it’s high time that I finish writing about Hawaii. Though in my last posting about my trip I may have made it sound like a disaster it was far from it. I had a great time. It was fun to see Heather and her brother Cam again. I always look forward to spending time with Lori. Any I had fun getting to know some of the friends and family of Heather and Alexis. Though there was rain nearly everyday it mostly didn’t interfere with our plans. When we needed it, the sun was out. The weather was really nice for the ceremony. Even if the pastor that did the ceremony wasn’t. Apparently she was pretty rude to Alexis, one of the brides, when Heather was late. She said that she had another ceremony that she had to get to. So we added her to the list of reasons not to use Turtle Bay Resorts ever again. Especially since they were a large part of the reason that Heather was late, as they had only scheduled one appointment for hair and nails and only had one person working in the salon. But both Heather and Alexis were to be all fixed up there. Then they couldn’t do room service either. I didn’t really get that story but basically they wanted to way over charge for food they couldn’t get there in less than 3 hours. I never actually heard what the girls did after that. Did they just not eat? Did they go hungry till the reception? I hope not. The reception was nice: the food was great, the weather was nice, but the bar tender wasn’t so great. He wasn’t very good at mixing drinks. But we all had a good time dancing and eating. I think that every Katherine, the vegan that made life hard for the food planners, was satisfied with the food.

The highlight of the trip for me was Saturday, after all the wedding stuff was done. Lori had a friend from high school that worked at a sea life park on the island. She is one of the dolphin trainers there. So we went and saw her shows and saw the park. She introduced us to one of the penguins and let us play with it some. Then later we got to meet one of the dolphins. We tried to get him to do some tricks but pretty much he only did it for Kelly, the trainer. She did get him out of the water for pictures with all of us. Cam really enjoyed the fish tank where you can hold a sea cucumber. He had some bad experiences with petting zoos but I think we got him over that experience. We also got to see the first know instance of a Wolphihn, half whale/half dolphin. It was an accident as they had put the female whales with the male dolphins for a night thinking there wouldn’t be any problems. Well, I guess the starts were rather romantic that night. The first question I asked and nearly every one I’ve told had asked is… is it sterile? Nope. It has had calves with a dolphin (I think). So they are ¾ dolphin and ¼ whale. They were hard to see, as they didn’t really come up out of the water for us. But we saw them swimming around. The park was small but fun. There were sea turtles and sea lions and a large tank with fish and manta rays and sharks. There’s also a dolphin adventure where you can swim with the dolphins. We didn’t do that though. I’d like to do that some time but we weren’t prepared to do it that day. That night I bought nearly all my souvenirs. Including a Hawaiian shirt for myself. I haven’t worn it yet though. It’s been a little cold for that. Then we went to a Thai restaurant with Kelly. The drive back home was a bit rough as we had trouble getting out of the city. (We did every time we were down there. Another reason to stay on the South Shore, not at Turtle Bay.) We were going to meet somebody that wanted Lori to take something back to his family in India. We were a little later than we though we would be but we got there. It was a good day. Then of course we had to pack since Lori was leaving the next morning and we had to be out by I think 11. So it was a late night of packing.

I really had a great time and if Heather does read my blog, I want to thank her again for planning things for us. We all loved our time there. I defiantly want to go back when we can see more of the other islands and get more time on the beach. Hawaii is still at the top of my list for Honeymoon destinations.

Apologies

I think I should take a minute to apologize. I didn’t realize that certain people are reading my blog. Not that they shouldn’t be. I should just be a little more careful I guess. You shouldn’t take anything that I say here too seriously. I forgot that I was writing this to keep Lori updated and that she linked my blog from hers. I wonder who else is reading my blog. Frisbee Amy, are you reading this? If you are, I miss you. Too bad I wasn’t able to play Frisbee this fall. You should call me so we can go out sometime. Amy from the Fish Market? You should call me; now that we don’t work together anymore I really want to know if that was going to be a date. Adel, I like ice cream; you can give me more any time you want. Any random customer that I’ve had that’s pissed me off, you can suck it!
Anyway, thanks for saying that my writing’s improved. That was nice of you.

Anybody Want to Ghostwrite My Blog?

I have plenty more to talk about from Hawaii but I want to take a break from that for just a sec to talk about something else. So when I was in Hawaii Lori told me that her mom didn’t think that I wrote my prayer letters for my time in India. She remembers my writing as being haphazard, poorly organized. She thought that my letters from India were well written. At first I just shrugged it off but now that I think about it, that’s a great idea. I should have had a ghostwriter for my prayer letters. What a great idea. Dave, you should totally look into that for when you go back to India. I wonder what else I could have ghostwritten. I should get a ghostwriter for my blog. Or I should have had a ghostwriter for my journal in India. That would have been especially nice sine I didn’t keep a journal. Anyway, just for the record, I write and edit this blog myself. Though it’s probably way more stream of consciousness than my letters. Good thing your mom doesn’t read this, Lori. She would probably feel all disillusioned.

Hawaii, Part 1

Last week I was in Hawaii. I was without an internet connection for nearly all of my time there so I wasn’t able to blog. Sorry, especially to Dave. So here are some thoughts about my vacation in “paradise”.

The worst part of a vacation is definitely the flight back. It was worse than arriving and having to drive around the island for 4 hours to find a place to stay. I guess when I told everybody that I was coming on Monday they thought I meant Tuesday. It was also worse then driving all over the island trying to find a place to surf. The waves were too big on the north shore so nobody would rent us a board. Tthen lessons at the one place that would didn’t start till 100. We finally rented a board on the west shore. By then we could only spend about 40 mins in the water. Not worth the 3 hours of driving around the island looking for the right spot. I never did get to stand on the board. I never figured out how to catch the right part of the wave. Every time I started to stand up the wave would leave me behind. Cam got up to a crouching position on the board pretty easily. Way to go Cam! I must admit that Cam and Chad were good companions for the journey though. We had a few laughs. Especially at the Ford 500 that was driving really slowly as we were rushing to get back to get ready for the wedding. You could tell that the three of us got ready for the wedding really quickly. Our pants were all really wrinkled. We were so sure that we would have plenty of time to get out and back that we didn’t worry about it. I took the fastest shower ever when we finally got back. Even faster than my freezing cold showers in India. Then Cam and I rushed down to meet everybody at the resort. (We left Chad to get ready at somebody else’s condo where there was more room.) Then, of course, we waited another 30 mins at the resort for Heather to get ready. That’s all right. Better we wait for her than her waiting for us. Cam was best man, so we didn’t want to be the ones holding things up. But we got there ok.

The flight back was such a pain. I really hate all the “security”. What a pain. Plus I’m not in the best mood anyway because I have to leave to return to my sad life. Then my suitcase was over weight and I had to pay extra to get it home. I almost lost it with the airline woman. I should have started yelling. Maybe I could have gotten out of paying extra. The guy next to me on the plane was nice. He let me borrow an extra set of headphones that he had for the movie. It was Willy Wonka so it wasn’t really that great a favor. But it was a nice gesture.

All in all it was a good vacation. I’ll work on posting some pictures this week. I’ll also tell about the ceremony and some of the fun times.

Are We 5?!?

So I had a tough start to my Sunday night shift. First off, I don’t think that I’ll be picking up too many more Sunday nights. Not unless someone really needs me to for a good reason. The money isn’t good enough, especially when I should be at church or something. So anyway it started with 2 women and a 10 year old kid. They didn’t like the music and it was too loud and the table was too close to the speaker. Then they all needed their own bowl of crackers for their soup. They couldn’t share. Then the one lady’s soup wasn’t full enough. It was as full as every other bowl of soup we serve. I went back and filled the bowl to the brim. I reconsidered realizing that I didn’t want to bother my manager with her yelling. So I dumped some out and brought her the bowl back. Seriously though, can’t share crackers? Go back to kindergarten! At least they left after soup. No tip but I’ll survive on not having the normal 10% that the cheap people of DC leave. I did get free mint chocolate chip ice cream from Adel in the ice cream shop. I know you don’t read this, Adel, but you rock the house.

So I still don’t know if it was supposed to be a date. Even with all the advice I got. Mostly because she never called. So we didn’t go out. I asked her about it last night. She told me that her roommate’s girl friend broke up with him. So he didn’t want to go out. Seems to me like most people would use that as a reason to go drinking but whatever. I think that she was about to ask me to do something this week but then she got interrupted. She had the chance too again later but never went back to it. I was kind of looking forward to seeing what the deal was. That and the debate to decide if it was a date. Maybe there’s still a chance.

Fishy Dreams and Dates

I’m spending too much time at the restaurant. I know that because I had a dream about it the other night. I was at the restaurant, kind of. It was supposed to be the restaurant but there were bookshelves all over like at the library. And the tables were library tables. I had no idea which tables were mine, something that happens frequently. I did know which section was David’s, another server from the restaurant. I didn’t know where he was and his customers were getting all upset but I just kept saying I don’t know where he is and I can’t help them. I also was having trouble finding the kitchen. I didn’t know where it was. So I couldn’t get anybody silverware and if I don’t have silverware then I can’t go to the tables. So I was running around looking for the kitchen and David. The whole time Valentina, another server, from Bulgaria, keeps calling, “Petco!” That’s what she and the other Bulgarian call me. I don’t know why. They called me Petel for a while, saying that it was “Peter” in Bulgarian. But I don’t know what Petco is. Anyway I did eventually find the kitchen, though I couldn’t get in because the incline up to the kitchen was too steep and my shoes were too slippery. That’s so weird. I never even had a dream about Organic.

So I’m pretty sure I was asked on a date yesterday. I’m not really sure. I was running it by my advisor on the phone this morning but we got cut off. Anyway one of the waitresses at work told me that her roommates’ birthday is this week. She asked me if I want to go get drinks with them this week. I don’t know who else would be there. I didn’t really ask follow up questions. I just said yeah, I’d go. It was starting to get a little busy and I was taken by surprise by it. And it was just before she left for the night. It could be a date. She’s supposed to call tomorrow I guess. Anyway, we’ll see what happens.

The Rosa Parks of Bus Riders

Yesterday was a sad day. Rosa Parks dies. Rosa Parks is an icon from the 50’s Civil Rights movement for African Americans. Back then everything was segregated. The phrase “separate but equal” was used a lot. (How stupid a phrase is that? I thought a lot about that in India, when the women had to always be separate in church. Dave and I liked to sit on the wrong side.) When riding the bus, blacks had to pay the driver then get off the bus and get on using the back door. They were allowed to sit as long as there were no white people waiting for a seat or any white people in the row. One evening after work she was sitting on the bus with 4 other black people in her row. When a white person got on the bus they were told to move, by the bus driver. The others did but she refused to. She was arrested and that led to a large number of lawsuits against the municipalities against the bus segregation laws, bus boycotts, and large rallies. She was fined but the laws were eventually overturned. They tell us that she was an old woman that was especially tired. In actuality she was 40 and she wasn’t any more tired than usual after a day of work. She was an activist that had finally had enough. She knew that something had to be done. Not lighting the bus on fire, not getting people to turn the bus over on its side. She stood up to the bus driver and the law. I think it’s funny that the story I learned in elementary school was wrong. I wonder what else I learned in elementary school is wrong. Thinking back to the teachers I had, I bet there’s lots of things. I had some pretty bad teachers in elementary and jr. high school. I bet that’s the reason that I got fired from Georgetown and now have to wait tables at the Fish Market. They were probably all sick of hearing all the stupid things that I learned in elementary school that were wrong. I could have been someone big and important if I hadn’t thought all my life that Rosa Parks was old!!

Anyway… Rosa Parks has become the poster girl for being the first, even though Alabama wasn’t the first to have the bus segregation laws challenged. She rocked the boat and played a huge roll in breaking that and other injustices. She should be the poster girl for fighting the system.

Good-bye Rosa. I hope that your actions won’t ever be forgotten. I hope that we truly did learn a lesson about equality and the stupidity of racism.

MMM, Floor Pie...

My friend Pam sent this. I picked Ice Cream and Chocolate Cake/Chocolate Icing. They are partly right for me. How about you guys?

Pick your dessert, then look to see what psychiatriststhink about you! If all of the desserts listed below were sitting in front of you,which would you choose?
(Sorry, you can only pick one!)
1) Angel Food
2) Brownies
3) Lemon Meringue
4) Vanilla Cake/Chocolate Icing
5) Strawberry Short Cake
6) Chocolate Cake/Chocolate Icing
7) Ice Cream
8) Carrot Cake

Now that you've made your choice, ! this is what research saysabout you!

Angel food - Sweet, loving, cuddly. You love all warm and fuzzy items. Alittle nutty at times. Sometimes you need an ice cream cone at the endof the day. Others perceive you as being childlike and immature at times.
Brownies - You are adventurous, love new ideas, are a champion ofunderdogs and a slayer of dragons. When tempers flare up, you whip outyour saber.You are always the oddball with a unique sense of humor and direction.You tend to be very loyal.
Lemon Meringue - Smooth, sexy, & articulate with your hands, you are anexcellent after-dinner speaker and a good teacher. But don't try to walkand chew gum at the same time. A bit of a diva at times, but you havemany friends.
Vanilla Cake/Chocolate Icing - Fun-loving, sassy, humorous. Not verygrounded in life; very indecisive and lack motivation. Everyone enjoysbeing around you, but you are a practical joker. Others should becautious in making you mad. However, you are a friend for life.
Strawberry Short Cake - Romantic, warm, loving. You care about otherpeople and can be counted on in a pinch. Yo! u tend to melt. You can beoverly emotional at times.
Chocolate Cake/Chocolate Icing- You love to give as well as receive.Very creative, adventurous, ambitious, and passionate. You have a coldExterior but are warm on the inside. Not afraid to take chances. Willnot settle for anything average in life. Love to laugh.
Ice Cream - You like sports, whether it be baseball, football,basketball, or soccer. If you could, you would like to participate, butyou enjoy watching sports. You don't like to give up the remote control.You tend to be self-centered and high maintenance.
Carrot Cake - You! are a very fun loving person, who likes to laugh. Youare fun to be with. People like to hang out with you. You are a verywarm hearted person and a little quirky at times. You have many loyalfriends.

Still Wanting, Never Having

It’s always funny when you bait someone and they only seem to latch onto something else. Like they missed it.

Anyway... I was asked to clarify the story I posted about Lori’s keys. It was when we were in the evil Starbucks. I wanted Panera for the free broad band but Lori wouldn’t have it. When we went in the evil house of coffee the T-Mobile hotspot sign tricked me into thinking that I would be able to spend my time typing e-mails rather than read the collection of smut books. I took Lori’s keys and went to the car to get my laptop and returned to the store. Lori’s friends came and left and I think Lori wanted to get something from the car. She asked me for the keys. I checked my pocket and they weren’t there. I said I didn’t have them I must have given them back. She insisted that she didn’t have them. If I didn’t have them and Lori didn’t have them and they weren’t on the table the obvious solution is that they were in the trunk. Well Jeff and I briefly entertained the possibility of breaking into her car but that wasn’t going anywhere. So AAA was called to get them to open the car. I was sure that I wouldn’t have locked them in the car but what else could have happened to them. What if one of her friends had taken them? So they were called and I had my vindication. I’m still not sure why she didn’t get suspicious about the keys that didn’t work in her car but whatever. Nobody believed that I hadn’t left her keys in the trunk. Lori didn’t even believe me that I didn’t have the keys. I can think of funnier things to do to someone than tell her that her keys are in the trunk when they aren’t. So we waited for her friend to come back. Well, some of us waited. Some people couldn’t wait and ran right for Buffalo Wild Wings.

You Always Want What You Can’t Have

Well, I’m in Rochester; visiting with Lori. Well, not right now. Right now I’m at Panera Bread while she’s off at her breakfast date. It’s a pretty long “breakfast” date, she left the house at about 940 and she isn’t supposed to get back till 1200. Plus it’s nearly 12 now and she hasn’t called me to see if I’m back so she can get it. I don’t know about that. Anyway, I’m at Panera because it’s about a million times better than Starbucks. For one thing the wireless Internet is free here. At Starbucks you have to pay for it. It said on the window at Starbucks that it’s a T-Mobile hotspot. Well, Catherine Zeta Jones is a T-Mobile hotspot but Starbucks was stone cold. I wasn’t going to pay. So I had to wait till this morning to get a connection. So finally I could do the last post and this one.

So for the last 2 days Lori and I have been going around seeing her friends in the area. It’s been good to see her; I miss her. She’s been having a hard time in India. She likes being in India but she doesn’t like the company that she works for. We’ve been talking a lot about that and other things. Will she keep with the company for the whole year? Will she stay in India? What if she moves back? Will she find an Indian guy to marry? You know, all the normal stuff. So we’ve been having a good time together.

This is also a week of meeting significant others. I met my friend Pam’s new boyfriend, Don and Mike’s new girlfriend, Kris. Kris was pretty cool. She fits in well with the group. She was able to handle Jeff and Chris well. When the picked on her like they do everyone she was able to give it right back. I think that she’s a good match for Mike. It’s hard to say about Don though. He seems really nice but I met him with Pam and Lori. We were talking (mostly laughing) so much that there wasn’t much room for him to talk. But he was participating a little. He seems like a keeper. I think I’ll get to see him tonight again. So there’ll be more time for judging then.

I’m showing my India Pictures tonight to Pam and Mike. I don’t know who else will be there. It will be emotional for me. Reliving it all and missing the people and friends. But I’m glad that I’ll finally get to show them.

Also, just for the record: I was vindicated and did not lock Lori’s keys in the trunk. Her friend took them off the table when she left.

Where Did You Learn to Count

I wrote this on Monday but couldn't post it till today because of stupid Starbucks. I'll write about that in another post though:

I’m sitting in Dulles Airport. It’s 730 am and I already have stuff to say about my trip. Usually when I fly somewhere I get Gate Z50. The farthest gate possible. That’s fine, I’m used to it. It’s the story of my life. So when I checked in today I was shocked when I saw that I had gate A1! I’m smiling as I take the shuttle to concourse A. As I walk down the steps marked Gates A1-A8, I can’t help but smile about my short walk. I get down to concourse A and THE GATES ARE NUMBERED BACKWARDS!! It starts with gate A5. Freakn A! I still had to walk the farthest distance possible. That’s my life.
I’m heading to Rochester NY to see my friends from college. Well, actually I’m going to visit Lori. The one whom I started this blog for. I’ll also get to visit with some other college friends too. This will be a better trip than the one to Minnesota. If for no other reason, I brought something to eat on the plane. There are other reasons though. I’ll get to see Pam. The laughs never stop with Pam. When I’m with Pam I never have to say anything funny. I’m usually laughing too much to get anything out. Plus I’ll get to see Mike. Mike and I were roommates my senior year in college. Mike and I always have fun. I don’t think that I’ve seen them since Christmas. This will be good week that will end too soon. Well, I don’t know when I’ll get to post this. Stupid Dulles Airport is too cheap to have free wireless. Maybe I’ll be able to do it tonight at Pam’s.

Information that would have been useful YESTERDAY!!

I had a good time this weekend. I got in late on Friday and had dinner with my friend at Red Robin. It was good to catch up with him about life. Then we went home. It was my first time visiting them so I got the tour, which included a demonstration of his entertainment system. He has a very large TV (I don’t remember the measurements) with 6.1 Dolby surround sound. I also learned what that means. It was awesome. We watched a few movies over the weekend. It was awesome!

On Saturday we went running. Jeff has been running to try to be healthier. They usually run a 5K, about 3 miles, at about a 12 min. mile pace. I knew I could handle that. However, when we arrive the trainer says that she is going to run 5 miles and that anybody that wants can join her. Jeff decided that it would be good for him to do and I wasn’t going to just play on the jungle gym in the park. So I ran 5 miles with him. It took a little more than an hour. It was good but I was so tired the rest of the day. Plus my legs hurt pretty much until Wednesday morning. I was pretty close to falling asleep at the ceremony. My suggestion to all of you is not to run 5 miles cold just before a wedding. Just a thought that might help you someday.

I arrived at the wedding that afternoon a little late. I got there just in time to walk down the aisle to my seat just behind the bride. It was a nice service. The reception was okay. The only person that I knew was the bride. Nobody from college was there. I was a little surprised. Also a little disappointed that I didn’t get to use a good cover story. I’ll have to use the mortician idea next time. Instead I got to meet some of the groom’s friends from college, Northwestern. They seemed like a good group of people. They were the ones that decorated the car. They stuffed it with balloons, stuck cookies to the roof, and tied cans to the rear bumper. So I got along with them well. I did the dollar dance with the bride and left. I didn’t feel like doing much more than that.

The rest of the weekend went quickly. We watched some Sunday afternoon football. Then I flew home. The plane home was packed but I had my combos. No going hungry this time!

So Hungry

I wrote this on Friday but couldn't post till now:

I’m writing this on the plane flying to Minnesota. My friend Kelly from college is getting married. I’m a little bitter that they don’t serve snacks on Northwest anymore. Well you can buy a tiny bag of trail mix for a dollar. I wish I had known, I would have bought a large bag of something before getting on the plane. I’m hungry and that makes me bitter. I was waiting for dinner till I landed but now it’s getting hard to wait. On the way back I’m bringing a large bag of Combos.

As I said I’m on my way to an old friend’s wedding. I have mixed feelings about going. It would be easier if I was married (still accepting applications/suggestions) or if I had someone to come with me. At first I thought that I probably wouldn’t know anybody there. I’ve realized that I probably will. Tony and Heather will probably be there. It will be cool to see them again. Not really interested in talking to Jay and Melody again. Maybe they won’t be able to make it. I’m pretty indifferent about seeing Chris and Amy. I’m not sure if I’ll see anybody else that I know. I don’t know whom Kelly kept in touch with over the years. I guess I’ll see. I have to decide what to tell them all that I do. I could tell them all that I work for Georgetown still or I could tell them that I’m working at the new job that I expect to hear back from soon. I could make up a totally fake job. That could be fun. I could say something about I’m a trouble shooter for the CIA. Then say that I can’t say much about my job. Hard decision. Thinking about what I could use for stories makes me a little more excited to go. Though it doesn’t make me less bitter about no free plane snacks.
It should be a good weekend. I’ll be visiting some of my brother’s college friends. They were at our house for Sunday dinners a lot. So I know them well. I’ll have to ask if we’re going to have lasagna. Well I’ll write more about how things went and what my cover story was. No pictures of the wedding like James, though. I didn’t bring a camera.

I’ll give you what you deserve…

So I’ve been waiting tables for nearly 2 months now. It gives me an interesting view into the heads of other people. A view I mostly could do without. There’s a PhD. thesis for some psychology major in the restaurant business. For one thing I’ve found that though most people say they give at least 15%. It’s much more common to get closer to 10% than 15%. And in case you were wondering the verbal tip (you did a great job, we enjoyed everything so much) doesn’t help to pay off the school loans. So say it with a real tip. This even happens to the cute waitresses and the experienced waiters we have. So it’s not just that I suck as a waiter.

It’s funny what makes people angry. I had a table flip out on Sunday because I thought that I could have scallops put on a dish to replace something and I was wrong. So when the manager (Chris, the cool manager) said, “it can be done but it will cost extra” they started to yell and say that since I said it could be done then we have to do it and can’t charge them for it. My manager realized quickly that they weren’t going to calm down so he got the head manager. Chris wanted to make them pay the bill anyway but the head manager just let them leave. Now I realize that I had made a mistake but it’s not like I dumped a bowl of soup on them. Even worse is that table threw me off for the rest of the night. I couldn’t get my rhythm back and I just ran from table to table. I did all right but all night I felt like I was doing it all wrong and that I was going to get lousy tips the rest of the night.

Another one is that people don’t like to have to pay for anything. I had a woman order a Bloody Mary the other day. She said she really had a craving for one. She drank a few sips of it and pushed it to the side and asked for an Iced Tea or something. So I asked her if it wasn’t any good or what. She said it was fine but she just didn’t really want it. So when I brought the bill and the Bloody Mary was on there she complained. Saying that she didn’t think she deserved to pay for it since she didn’t really drink it. But it wasn’t made improperly, it didn’t taste bad, she just decided after she had it that she didn’t want it. So the restaurant deserves to pay for it because you ordered it and decided not to drink it? Should I take a dollar off your meal because you didn’t feel like eating the fries that you ordered with your meal? Didn’t finish your salad? Let me take off 50 cents for that. The manager (Chris) just deleted it off her bill. Not worth fighting I guess. It’s funny what people think they deserve.
I’m not bitter enough about it to serve sneezers yet. Not that I would or have seen it happen yet. But I’m seeing how servers could get that frustrated with people. I wonder what customers would say if I just told them that I deserved a way to release the frustration of having to deal with them.

But I’m Going to Need That

I had my interview on Wednesday. It went pretty well. There were actually 5 interviews. The first one started just after 900 and I finished just after 1200. I didn’t really sleep well the night before. Not because of playing computer games as some might think. I was nervous about the interview. I had prepared a lot for it. But I was still anxious.

When I arrived the security guards stopped me at the door. They didn’t like the crowbar. I told them that it was necessary for the demonstration. I mean if we’re tearing down old labs, I’ll need to show my skills. They didn’t buy it. They made me leave my Swiss Army Knife in the car too. When I went back to my car, I got an SMS from Dave wishing me luck. I’m glad that I had to go back to the car.

When I got there, the doctor that runs the office wasn’t there yet (I’ve been to a lot of interviews where the interviewer was late). So I met with one of the other team members first. It was nice to start with her because it helped me to relax and hear some of my answers live. Then I met with the doctor that runs the office. Then I met with 3 other people that work in the office. There was a 6th person that I probably would have had to meet with had he been there. He was out for the day. All the men were ex-military. I felt a little out of place. I don’t know if I stood up straight enough. All in all it went really well. One guy told me that he was pretty impressed with my resume. He said it was very good for how young I am. That felt good. Then in the next interview the guy tore my resume apart. He was the non-science person in the group. So he couldn’t talk about any science stuff but he looked really carefully at the format and how I wrote things. There was a mistake in dates that he found. Then he asked all these little clarification questions about everything. He was the hardest interviewer of the 5. Though he wasn’t the one that seemed to think that I wasn’t qualified or able to do the job. One of the women that was a PhD. talked like she didn’t think I could do it.

All in all I would say that it went pretty well. Now I just wait. They are going to have a meeting about me. They will talk about their impressions of me and if they think I would be a good fit for the group. Then I will hear back from them. I tried to get a time frame from them but I wasn’t successful. All he said is that they would meet some time soon and then I would hear back from them. This would be a great job. I hope I get it.

Finally, an Interview.

I have an interview tomorrow. I don’t really know too much about the job but the little I’ve heard has me pretty interested. It would involve traveling to Russia and working in labs there. Working on safety and security I think. I don’t know if I have to move to Russia or will be traveling back and forth. I think I want to travel back and forth some. Spending a few months there and then coming back for some time. I’m getting nervous about the interview. I wrote down some answers to the common questions. Like “why should we hire you” and “tell me about yourself”. That should help me to be ready for tomorrow. Still a little nervous though. I’m sure I’ll be really nervous tomorrow. I think it will be fine though. The Doc that I’ll be interviewing with has a good sense of humor. Plus most of the nervousness is anticipation. When it finally starts I should relax a little. I hope I sleep well tonight. I’ve been having trouble sleeping. Plus tonight is guild night for World of Warcraft. I’m close to level 25 and I want to get moving on levels. I’ll just have to start early so I can finish earlier.

I’m in love with Col. Wilma Deering

I’ve recently had a loss of innocence. I know that’s hard to believe, how much more can I have, especially after all my time with Pam. I’m sure most of the people reading this don’t know whom Wilma Deering is. She was one of the main characters in the TV series Buck Rogers. (http://www.buck-rogers.com/film_and_series/) It was a favorite back in the early ‘80s, along with A-team and Greatest American Hero. Her role as the main female role was of course to create sexual tension with the real main character. Mostly that was accomplished through the use of short skirted or spandex Uniforms and acting like she has the hots for Buck and is jealous of every woman that makes an appearance on the show but rebuffing any advance by him. Sounds familiar. I don’t want to mention any names but it starts with L. DeChellis.

Anyway, Buck Rogers is now showing on the Sci Fi Channel. So I’ve been catching it when I can. I’m almost sorry that I have been. I remember this awesome show with great space battles, and ray guns, and aliens with strange powers, and robots. What I’ve been seeing isn’t any of that. Much of the “special” effects are about as good as the original Star Trek episodes. I’ve also been watching old reruns of MacGyver. He’s not really a very good actor, but we loved that show. It’s fun to watch and remember the episodes. But it also makes me wonder what else I remember better than it was? Mr Rogers, Sesame Street, the Muppets?!? Well, I shouldn’t get carried away. The Muppet Show was awesome. I better not dwell on this too long. I might start to get depressed. Plus if Wilma ever reads my Blog it might hurt my chances with her.

Psst. Hey buddy. Wanna buy a dog?

This weekend I went to a picnic. It was with some of the people that I played Frisbee with over the summer. (Frisbee-Amy wasn’t there.) There was a couple there that had just bought a dog. OUT OF THE BACK OF A VAN! They said it was an animal rescue type organization. In Tennessee there aren’t laws about having to get your dog fixed. So the shelters euthanize the dogs pretty quickly after they are brought in. So there’s this “underground railroad” for dogs. They (I don’t know who they is) go and get the dogs and bring them up to West Virginia. Then they sell the dogs out of the back of a van in a parking lot. Is that what Chris Farley was talking about? LIVING IN A VAN, DOWN BY THE RIVER!!

GOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!!!!!!!

Now that I’m unemployed I’ve been languishing in self-pity. I’ve been sitting around in my underwear watching Gilmore Girls repeats and eating ice cream. And that’s on the good days… Actually I’ve been applying to all kinds of jobs and complaining because I don’t hear back from them that day. Seems to me that if I can e-mail them my resume they should be able to read and reject it in the same day. Anyway I applied at a jewelry store. The manager asked me why I wanted to work there. The only good reason that I could think of was that I would probably meet a rich (possibly Indian) princess and then I could get married and quit. Or at least flirt with the cute girls that came in. I didn’t say that though. I made something up about how I like to meet people and help them with stuff. I called her a few days later to see what she thought and she said I didn’t have enough experience. I don’t think that you can say that for any job that you fill out an application that they just tore off of a pad of applications. I should have told her that I just wanted to flirt with the hot girls that came in. I’ve also applied to some restaurants in the area. I got an offer from one. I’m pretty sure that the only reason is that I have a friend that worked there and he called and told them that I’m cool. Seems to me that if I worked on an ambulance and managed 7 foreign post docs in a lab I can handle 3 tables in a restaurant. So I’m supposed to start the restaurant job on Monday. Then last night I got a call from the area manager at a snooty furniture store near me. I applied there and didn’t expect to get an interview because I don’t have experience in their field. But I have an interview on Friday. Like I said, it’s a snooty store so there’s a good chance that the pay would be good. I would rather work there since the restaurant isn’t that close. Plus as long as I’m not the furniture mover it will probably be less work. I know that there isn’t a store manager. I’m not getting my hopes up for that though, I’m sure that being a building manager and managing 7 foreign post docs, doesn’t count as experience. I think that the furniture store has the lowest princess quotient of them all though. I have applied to lab jobs, where my experience is obviously applicable. But I haven’t heard from any of those.
Worrying that I would take a temp job and have it not be so temporary; I asked my roommate to help me and kick my butt a little to make sure that I’m working on getting on with my life. So we went out yesterday for coffee and talked about setting goals. He told me about his mid-career crisis and how he set goals and got some role models and got things together. (So I have some open positions for role models if anybody wants to apply. Make sure you have some good experience in those areas. I’ll send you and application if you’re interested.) It was a good conversation. We set some goals for me to take the GREs in the next few months. We talked about how I want to change professions to International Development and Aid Delivery. He suggested that I read some books about it so I can be sure to talk intelligently about the subject. He said I should go to conferences and talk to everybody that I can about it. I need to network. I don’t really know how to network. It was good for us to sit and talk about it. I’ve been saying for some time all these things that I want to do. It feels good to have goals to work with. Well, time to work on some of those goals. Maybe I’ll put some pants on first.

GET OUT!!!

That’s a funny phrase. In India we were talking about how hard that one is to explain to people from another culture. Especially if, like Elaine, you hit the person and shove them halfway across the room.

For some time now I’ve been saying that I want to get out of science. I really enjoy science as a discussion topic and sometimes it’s fun to read about. Like in an Isaac Assimov book. But as a profession I find it quite tedious. The research is at least. The thing about research is that it by definition will be fraught with failure. If it were easy and obvious, someone would have already done it. That isn’t an explanation for failure that seems to work with PIs (Primary Investigators). And of course, it doesn’t help when you have the good old “No Science Zone” that I possess, it’s my super hero power. Well, this week my zone was too strong for my boss. I got canned. Tuesday morning I was taken into the office and was told that it wasn’t working out and that it was my last morning there. I was to empty my desk and then I could go. The reasons given for getting rid of me were all true. None were worthy of firing, certainly not since it was the first time he said anything about any of them. But it was within my probationary period, so he could have fired me for wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Especially since we all know , “only two kinds of people wear Hawaiian shirt’s: big fat party animals and gay people”. Well the basic reason stated was that I wasn’t motivated enough to do the job or to make things work. Which is true but what I should have pointed out to him was that he was never really around to inspire me to do anything. Only being around 2 or 3 days a week and then being in a meeting all day doesn’t give me much time to try to trouble shoot things. Also when the best he does is tell me that my boxes are dirty and that’s why things are coming out so unclear, it doesn’t seem that he cares much, so why should I. Well, I didn’t. And so after saying that I want to get out of science, I’ve been told to get out first.

Hopefully I’ll be able to take the hint and stay out. At least stay out of research. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to start a career change to an international relations type job. I’m particularly interested in aid delivery and infrastructure development in underdeveloped areas. Just so I don’t have an anti-aid zone around me too. “That can’t be good for business. That can’t be good for anybody.”

Making a Better Idiot

I had a friend in college (that’s Uni for you non-Americans) that used to say that if you make something idiot proof, the world will make a better idiot. He was weird. Most of what he said made me laugh at him.
Things have been pretty slow at work. It tends to get kind of boring. It’s hard to look busy when you have nothing to do. That of course doesn’t matter most days because my boss leaves by like 300, on the days that he comes that is. But on the days that he’s there I try to look like I’m doing something. If that fails I’ll usually pretend to be reading a Science magazine or even a neuroscience textbook. Well on Friday I had nothing to do. I had no reason to go to work, except that it was payday. I figured I’d make some buffers and solutions that I didn’t need but it made me feel like there was a reason for me having come to work. I figured at least when I don’t have anything expected of me then I can’t not live up to expectations. I couldn’t screw things up, right. So during my buffer making I went to the freezer room, can’t remember why. So as I was putting back whatever it was that I had taken out, I knocked out a slide box. It wasn’t full but it mostly was. There were lots of slides on the floor, more than a few of them broken. I put as many as I could back in the box and the broken ones that looked like they could still be used I piled in the box and put it back in the freezer. I went and told our student, the owner of the box, what I had done. She was so nice. “Oh, that’s no problem. It’s no big deal.” So she goes to the box and because I had it out of the freezer too long most of the slides had frozen in their new slots. So she can’t reorder the box without thawing it again and she can’t thaw it again without hurting the tissue on the slide. So she can’t reorder them to know which slides she has and which ones I broke. So when I don’t have my own science to make not work, I go looking for other people’s to screw up. At least Leslie can’t fire me.

The Perfect Match for Pete

My roommate helped me this morning to realize what a good match for me was. He had gone swing dancing Tuesday night. I didn’t go, it was a different group that from last time. No Amy, so what would have been the point. Anyway, he was meeting a girl that he had gone on a date with the week before. Well apparently she had brought a friend along. Then this morning before I left for work he was telling me about it. He says that his date had brought a friend that would be a good match for me. That always makes me laugh. I like to hear the kind of girl other people, especially those that have known me for 2 months, think would be a good match for me. So I ask him, with a smirk on my face, “really, how was she a good match for me?” His answer… “She’s attractive.” Now I should say at this point that I do like attractive women. I have had many crushes on attractive women. But that’s usually not my only criteria for a decision on whether or not we would make a good match. That was actually all he had. No other reasons for her being a good match. I later found out that she’s a doctor. So that could fit into my plan to marry a rich princess. But for those of you out there looking for a match for me, now you know what to look for.

New Nobel Prize Category

So I went swing dancing this weekend. I haven’t gone swing dancing since college, 6 years ago. I was reminded by the middle of the first song why that is. Swing Dancing is definitely not one of my talents. It won’t be appearing on my resume.

The night started out with my roommate Eric and friend Jenn and I driving out to the place together. We get there and see one of the guys from Bible Study that we were meeting there. He had already paid. It was $18! I thought he was joking when he told me that. But I was stuck there so I borrowed 18 bucks from one of the other guys and we went in. There was a lesson (which I really needed) to start off. The teachers were really good. They were funny and they did a really good job showing us the steps. Also they had us rotating to a new partner every few minutes. That was nice because it helps you to scope out the crowd. It was bad because it let too many girls know that I was not the person that they should dance with.

During the rotations I met a pretty cute girl named Amy. After the lessons were over and the band started playing and Jenn had danced with me for 2 songs (probably mostly because she thought I’d call her mom and tell on her), I was ready to strike out on my own. I was talking to a guy from our bible study and Amy was talking to him too. She knew him from playing Frisbee together. So we talked for a few minutes then I asked her if she wanted to dance. She apparently didn’t learn, or remember, from the lesson and said yes. We get out on the floor for the last few bars, which was average for me. It generally took me most of the song to get up the courage to ask someone to dance. So anyway we finish out that song and she stays with me for the next song. I was really terrible. I couldn’t find the beat and even if I could I didn’t know what steps to do. The lessons were good but they didn’t teach how to do an 8 step. Then she actually stayed on the floor for a third song (really it was 2.1 songs total). After that she had enough and we split up. I went off to find other victims and she went off to find someone that wouldn’t jerk her all over the place. There were at least 2 other songs (really one total since it took half the song for me to ask) that she was willing to “dance” with me. She was also the only one that smiled back at me. The other women pretty much didn’t smile back at me at all. It was a pretty fun night all in all. Doubt I’ll ever get to tell her she deserves a humanitarian award for being so patient.

One what?

Last week I went to this cool conference. It was put on by the One Campaign (www.one.org). Dave e-mails me, from Australia, saying I should go to it. It was great that he only gave me like one day’s notice for it. I had a little trouble finding the church but I’m really glad I went. They talked about their work to end global poverty. They are campaigning to have the G8 countries forgive the debt of African counties. The condition is that they have to spend the money on education and healthcare. It was really great to hear about how much they are doing.

The US ambassador to Madagascar was there also. I thought that it would be really great to hear her speak and that she would have something great to say. I was kind of wrong on that. By “kind of” I mean totally. She went on and on about the movie Madagascar and how we should go and see it but we should also know about the real Madagascar. But she didn’t tell us anything about the real Madagascar! She rambled on and on for soooo long. The rest of it was good. I didn’t really get the interpretive dances but it was nice. It’s a great group. Those of you that don’t know the group should check it out.

It’s sad to me that George Bush seems unwilling to follow Tony Blair in this plan. It would be really great to see him support this project. I know that not all the countries in Africa could accept this but it would be so great for even just a few to start with. We just have to pray that the leaders of the G8 countries and the African countries will make the right choices to help the poor and the hopeless.

Cheap Indian Shoes

My shoes are falling apart. I bought them in India about a year ago now. The glue that holds the sole to the canvas has pretty much let go. I’m not sure that they will last too much longer. It’s not a good time to have to go buy shoes. I don’t have the money to buy new ones right now. I have way more important things to spend my money on, like my new computer. But I have to use my shoes to get to work. So I may have to have to just buy new ones. My boss probably won’t pay me if I don’t go to work. What a horrible cycle. I have to go to work to get money. If only I could find a way to get rich quickly, without much work. A “get rich quick scheme”, if you will. I’ll have to see what I can come up with. I’ll let you all know.

And the award for the most naive person in a supporting role goes to…

I’m not sure what my deal is. I must be a homozygous knockout for the having a clue gene. (It’s probably not a good sign that I would say that.) Last Thursday I was sitting at home eating dinner minding my own business and my roommate asks me if I want to go to some coffee house that has live music. So I’m like, yeah, that sounds good. So he goes out for a little during the early evening and then comes back later and wants to go to a sports bar where we can watch the basketball game. Now I don’t care about basketball but I like beer so it’s not a total loss. So we stop at one for like 2 minutes on the way to the one that he wants to go to. I’m thinking that’s kind of weird but whatever. So we sit down at one place and get a beer. He finishes his pretty quickly and half way through my beer he’s like man lets jet. There’s still a quarter left in the game and half of my beer too. I said that too him and he says I’ll help you with the beer and pours half of it into his glass. Now I didn’t pay for the beer but it seems to me that when you buy a beer for someone you should probably let them drink it and not take it back. So we leave that bar when he finishes my beer for me and we go to another place. We see the last 30 seconds of the game at the third bar. Then we leave. I’m like wow that was pretty much a wasted night. But at least I didn’t pay for the half a beer I had. So then at the car he sees 2 girls walking though the parking lot that he had seen in the bar. So he says hey they were in the bar, they’re checking us out. They’re doing the same thing we are, I’m going to go talk to them. That’s about when it hit me that the night wasn’t about the game so much as cruisin’ for chicks. Way to stay on top of things Pete. You’re sure to win this prestigious award next year too! Ahh well, at least I got half a beer.

Slow Down There!

So now that I’ve moved into my new, new place in DC it’s time for me to figure out how to get to work. Not that I haven’t been going to work. It’s just that I have to find a faster way there that won’t make me go broke. If I park at the metro station near me, it costs $10 to park and ride. Today I drove up to where I used to live and rode the bus and metro from there. So I didn’t have to pay for parking and the Metro ride is cheaper since it’s not as far. But the busses are so unreliable that it added like 20 minutes of just waiting at the station. During that time 2 busses that I should have been able to take were supposed to have come. But they didn’t. I can’t believe that the busses in DC are so bad. Inconceivable! So I’m going to drive up there again tomorrow and see if I can park closer to the station so that I can walk to and from the station easily. That should help me to cut my time down to about an hour. That’s not that bad for the DC area.
Work was about normal. The experiment that I’ve been working on didn’t work. It worked last time. So it should take another try or 2 before it works again. That will give my boss plenty of time to give me dirty looks and reconsider why he hired me. But then that’s life when you have an anti-science zone around you.

Boxing Day

Well, it's come. I'm moving tomorrow. I'm moving to a new house in the DC area. After living in the Town House that I'm currently in for 3 weeks, my roommate told me to leave because there is a possibility of personality conflict. One would ask, “”did you pee on his bed? “No”, I would answer. I have been watching a lot of TV. He would rather I didn't watch TV or spend time in the living room so that he and his girlfriend can have the living room alone. But mostly, he wants to have a friend of his move in instead of me living here. It would have been better if he had just told me no, I can't live here before I moved to the area. But then I guess if he had told me upfront then it would go against his character of being a dick.

So I'm moving. I'm not excited because now I'm worried that everybody in DC is like that now. Like this new guy will be all stupid like the guys I'm living with now. Probably he’s better. He’s not as bad as these guys. I’m just worried because of the experience that I’m having now. Yesterday the one roommate told me that he would be able to help me move but then today he told me that he has to work. How nice for him. I haven’t seen the other one. Which wouldn't upset me but we do have some things to settle. Also I haven’t told him off yet because I figured that things around here are bad enough. I was hoping for the chance to do that after I left. But we'll see.

Anyway, I'm all packed up with everything in boxes. I'm just waiting to start tomorrow. It'll be good to get out and finally get settled. Since I've been here for a month already. Seems like its time to get settled in. Plus my boss hasn't figured out that i'm jinxed and that there is a zone around me in which science can’t be done. Once he figures that out work won’t be so fun. So I’d like to have things at home going well before he realizes that. Then I’ll have to deal with all this crazy stress at work. I won’t be able to take the stress from both sides.

In The Fast Lane To Hell

Actually I just merged from the entrance ramp to the highway. I put ear tags on some mice and I took tail snips so that I could genotype them. When we used to talk about the animal trials going on at Pitt, we would talk about different ways to do an experiment. One way was just as good as the other it just meant that you would go straight to hell rather than taking the slower way. I should take this opportunity to point out that I’m not against animal trials. They are useful. They save lives, teaching us about how drug therapies and other procedures can help doctors. CPR was invented on dogs. My lab at Pitt was working on a solution to replace normal saline that would protect the organs better than saline does. Research isn’t always done in a good way, respectful of the animals that God created for us to rule over. But animal research done in a moral way is a good thing. I would just rather that someone else was doing it. Preferably far enough away so that the lightning blot won’t hit me.

Does anybody know why we don’t cast lots anymore? I’ve been wondering that for some time. Thing would just be so much easier if, when I had a decision to make, I just pull out the old sacred dice and toss them down the craps shoot. Where should I live? Should I take this job or wait for another one? Should I hop on a plane and visit Dave in Australia or Lori in India? I’m just saying. That’s one tradition that we should have kept from the Old Testament.

For those keeping track, the title for the April 28th post is from the Ice Tea song (Ain’t Nothin’ but a) Hoochie Mamma.

Shock This!

I just had one of those experiences. It’s hard to believe that I’m still experiencing culture shock. I went to the mall today. It wasn’t the first time that I went to one since I got back to the US. For some reason this time it got to me. As I walked through the mall looking at the stores, not going into most of them, I found myself appalled by the whole thing. It was the same trendy store, one after the other. Gap, Limited, Abercrombie, then the trendy kids clothes stores with a diamond store and a coffee shop thrown in for good measure. I just marveled at the greed and the consumerism that I saw and remember myself taking part in. Wishing that I made more money so that I can buy some really powerful computer for games. Or get a better apartment without roommates to piss me off. I find myself forgetting the lessons that I was supposed to have learned. I miss India, even the armpit region. I miss the simpler life. I miss the roommate that I had there and the friends that I made. I want to go back. I want to go to a new place for new experiences. I’m excited about the future, and going for a new adventure. I don’t want to wait. I want to go now. All in good time I suppose. All in God’s time.

You ain't nothing but a sugar momma

I'm not so happy with roommates right now. I gotta get married. Man, that must be the life. You have a roommate to take with you where ever you go. I just moved to DC and my roommates suck. Hard to believe that I could know that after only about 3 weeks. But here I am getting kicked out of the house because they want some friend to live with them instead of me. It sucks that you have to sign contracts from day one to get people to live up to the commitments they make. Should have signed the lease first. Anyway if I was married I wouldn't have to deal with it. Even better if she's rich and I don't have to work. I'm all about being a stay at home dad/homemaker. If there's any takers on that, feel free to e-mail me. No caste bared. I like to travel, so it's alright if you're not in the US.


Extra Points if you know the reference in the title.

You marked your tubes all wrong

I think that many of my posts will be ranting about my job. I'll have to not do that too much. That could get annoying.

So the problem with a change of dynastys comes in the marking of tubes. You see the way one person marks their tubes isn't the way that anybody else would mark their tubes. So you look and think about it and you ask everybody else in the lab and try to figure out what they were saying. But you always end up adding the antibody at 1:20,000 rather than 1:40,000. So you get twice the amount of antibody that you want and you end up with bands so big and dark that you basically wasted the last 3 days on the whole western blot. Oh-well. Atleast it was just a test run anyway.

My friend Dave that I met in India called today. I always enjoy talking with Dave. We always laugh about the US (my home land) and Australia (his home land). It's fun to laugh about world politics. Plus Dave has a good sence of humor and was the only one at The Duncan that would get my jokes. So we have lots of laughs when we talk. I'm so glad that I went to India. I met some awesome people.

Gels, Crick, and the Metro

Hi Everybody. It's funny that I said everybody because there's probably like 2 people that will be reading this. One is my friend Lori in India. She's the reason I'm starting this. Not that I'm likely to put much more here than in my e-mails to her. But whatever. Dave is the other person that will be reading this. Dave, I'll put all the lines that I think of that I know you'll laugh at. Like "I'm bi-polar in one way", or "we don't want any adult content at the evening service". Dave we have to get together again some day. I like how you get my sense of humor. When I figure out how I'll put a link on my blog to Dave and Lori's blogs.

So, what's been going on with me? I just started working at Georgetown University. I'm a lab tech in the Neuroscience Department. I've been doing these PCRs. So annoying. In normal lab fashion it worked for the first 3 times I did it and no longer. I just started Western Blots today. That means more gel runing fun. We'll see if they go any better.

On my way too and from work I've been reading a book by Francis Crick about how he descovered the structure of DNA. Well acctually so far it's about how he thinks he was a genius child and way too smart for his time. That's not how I understood him to be. Then he writes about Darwin and how he was a genius. Again, not how I understood it to be. I got to thinking that in both cases it was an otherwise mediocre scientist bumbled themselves into fame without even realizing what they had done. I think that bodes well for me. I should be able to blunder into something. And I definatly won't know what I did.

Anyway tune in later for more random thoughts...